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Friday, December 10, 2010

DePuy Orthopedics To Recall Hip Replacement Products

United States of America- DePuy Orthopedics Inc., a division of Johnson and Johnson has issued a recall of two major lines of hip replacement products. The company has announced that ASR Hip Resurfacing System and ASR XL Acetabular System have to be taken out from the market because of its system defects.

Orthopedic Surgeons identified that the failures occured due to component lossening, component malalignment and metal sensitivity. Moreover, they explain that the system consists of a metal socket and a metal femrol head hence, the connection is metal to metal. frequent rubbing of metal surfaces release ions and metal particles into the joints and the blood resulting to bone staining, necrosis, swelling, nerve damage, tissue damage and/or muscle damage.

Research show that people who have these implants have a 1 in 8 chance of needing a revision surgery within five years. Patients who are utilizing the ASR are given notices that even in the absence of pain, any inflammation and body reaction can develop due to the circulation of ions in the body. They are strongly recommended to go and see their surgeon to have some tests. The end result is that a very expensive and painful replacement surgery intended to last about fifteen years ends up needing revision within two or three years.

The recall affects an estimated 93,000 patients worldwide replacement systems in more than 29 different models of hip replacement implants.

The DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System first became available in 2005 in the United States. At the beginning of 2010 DePuy Orthopaedics said they were phasing out the ASR Hip Implant because of declining sales, but never mentioned the high failure rate data from an Australian implant registry. In March 2010 the New York Times reported that DePuy issued its first warning to doctors and patients about the high early failure rate.However at this point they still had not issued a recall of the product. In fact, they adamantly denied there was a recall and claimed any statements referencing a recall were false. In turn of the damages being made, the DePuy lawsuit will cover all reasonable and customary costs of monitoring and treatment for services, including revision surgeries, associated with the recall of ASR products.

"Their financial losses could include lost wages and they may be entitled to money damages for physical impairment, disfigurement, scarring, mental anguish or emotional trauma, and pain and suffering in the past or future," says Thomas J. Henry of Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys. Patients and health care professionals with questions related to this recall should visit depuy.com. As of August 27, patients in the U.S. and Canada can contact DePuy by calling 888-627-2677 Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST. Patients in other countries can place a collect call to the U.S. at +1 813-287-1651 24 hours a day, seven days a week.